One reason why it has been so difficult to tackle the Ebola crisis is fear, which prevents healthcare workers from grappling effectively with the situation. Fear can hobble an organization; for instance, recent research shows that at Nokia, fear led to paralysis, isolating the headquarters from the marketplace and rendering it unable to respond to a fast-changing situation.

The younger of us, a pulmonary and critical care physician, just returned from the Ebola outbreak’s epicenter in Guinea, where he was deployed by WHO to treat victims of the disease. The elder, a management teacher, studies how organizations react under conditions of uncertainty and fear.

We recently compared notes, and identified four practices seen in the fight against Ebola that have been particularly effective in managing uncertainty and fear.

Ask any group of innovation enthusiasts to name their favorite organizations and the odds are that Google will top the list. It could well be the most daring, if not the most innovative, company of our times. But, the catch is that there never was a real Google, or at least there never was one Google that we could model.

For a long time now, Google as been a multi-business business: search (of course), but also driverless cars, e-payment systems, social media attempts, mobile phone operating systems, thermostats, etc. etc. The list is a fascinating one and goes on and on; some in industries with amazingly fast clock-speeds (Google, for example, and Google Ventures), and others in industries where time had seemingly stood still for several decades (Nest, for example, is in industries with historically slower clockspeeds, although that will likely change with the Internet of Things). How can you build one corporate culture for such varied competitive contexts? The answer is: you can’t! In fact, you shouldn’t even try. Each of these businesses deserves a culture that is best suited for the needs of the industry that it is in, and that is the genius of this biggest of all Google innovations: Alphabet. Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfischer/2015/08/11/three-cheers-for-the-end-of-google-as-we-knew-it/#12148226575d

Innovation is much easier to talk about, and to romanticize about, than to actually do. It requires both imagination and discipline, a combination that is far from ubiquitous. Yet, each of us should aspire to be change-agents in the organizations or communities in which we live. So, each year, at this time, I ask a number of innovative people, whose work I admire, to join me in suggesting some behavioral changes that they will resolve to try during the next 12 months. The question is simple: ‘What are you going to do this coming year to be more innovative?” The underlying argument is that innovative organizations deserve innovative leaders and members and if you’re not consciously thinking about how you might improve your own personal innovativeness, then you’re abdicating on an important managerial responsibility.

By now, everyone reading this knows (or should know) that you never want to be the so-called “smartest guy in the room.” Surround yourself with smarter people and you’ll all win. More ideas, more energy, more connections, smarter people make smart people even more successful.